Discussion: Book Bloggers – A Publicity Team That Should Be Respected. Oh, And They’re Free For An Unlimited Time!

Today’s discussion topic is a pretty common idea among book bloggers because they are well aware of their value, and they should be. Unlike a few authors who seem to underestimate the importance of these free reviewers or reading enthusiasts. So as a book blogger myself, I’m try to emphasise the reasons why the book blogging community should be, if not cherished, respected by authors. And what better than writing a review about this package of bookish people?

Book Bloggers are magical, contemporary humans who posses the ability of interpretation of literary pieces, and the power to phrase their opinions in a set of words that would accurately sum up their feelings about the book, all the while taking out time they don’t have and not equating time to money like the non-magical people do.

These bookish people are a collection of smart, obsessive readers who are keen to get the best recommendations to their audience, and encourage only what they love. They have the power to figure out what they, and in turn their audience, would like and what they wouldn’t. If this isn’t magic in itself, maybe the way authors don’t understand why choices may differ would be…but that would be dark magic, right?

They all prefer to be contacted only after browsing their review policy because often, it sums up what they wouldn’t like, thereby saving both the parties’ time.

Book bloggers give books a place in their little internet hub, gently patting the ones they liked and choking the ones they love with a tight hug. While many readers would be doing that in person (of course, what bookworm doesn’t do that?) it’s the bloggers who get vocal about their love in this vast world of Internet, thereby sealing their endearment with an everlasting stamp of a high rating—or a fan aesthetic.

While the authors try to sell their books, it’s these fans disguised as bloggers who genuinely follow the word-of-mouth advertising and don’t sound irritating with slogans like ‘free on KU’ or ’99 cents only’. And guess what? People actually listen to their recommendations!

So for once, authors should thank them dearly. Trust me, it would make their day.

Ultimately, they are free. How many things do you get for free now-a-days? Apart from one good book in the lot of ten that are on sale?

Book bloggers are committed to their craft; they take their time to write a review and precisely point out what they did or didn’t like in a book. This is something authors should appreciate. Of course, readers and fans are amazing, but those who don’t overlook the pacing or an underdeveloped character are all the more cool. Nobody’s asking for your heart pulled out for them but at least feel grateful for the work they’re doing. They aren’t obligated (most of the time) but stick to reviewing almost everything they read—good or bad—and promoting their favourites.

It isn’t easy to stare at a screen for hours when they don’t get that perfect adjective to describe the character who won their heart…and longer to describe someone who they absolutely despised. In return, book bloggers don’t ask for anything apart from a little regard and a mere recognition as someone who helps in a book’s publicity—because the truth is, they do.

Disclaimer: This isn’t a problem that I’m highlighting which is why I don’t have solutions for it—don’t ask me for any, either. It’s a simply thing I wanted to address so I did. Also, this post doesn’t consider all authors or all book bloggers in general and is solely my opinion I wanted to speak about. Of course, anybody is free to contradict me but please, don’t waste your and my time by being annoying and pointless, thank you!

49 thoughts on “Discussion: Book Bloggers – A Publicity Team That Should Be Respected. Oh, And They’re Free For An Unlimited Time!”

Lovely put, fanna ! 👏🏼👏🏼 specially loved the « putting time they don’t have » hahah 😅
Respect is everything. Specially when the book bloggers in themselves have make an effort to stay respectful and didn’t only bashed the book to bash it, you know?

Yup, we are definitely a pretty magical bunch of people from all corners of the world – and the internet. I do think most authors and publishers appreciate us, and I try to not pay much attention to those who don’t.
Very well said, Fanna ❤

A very good post about the importance of book bloggers, and how what they do is difficult and free, and should be respected. I couldn’t agree more. Hopefully more authors and publishers will be able to appreciate the hard work we do ❤

Such a beautiful post Fanna! ook Blogging is hard work! and it’s indeed free publicity that many don’t seem to appreciate but at we are a close-knit community and we do support each other a lot. Like with this kinda posts! 🙂

This is such a fantastic post, thank you for writing it! ❤ Blogging is hard work and book bloggers are just a bunch of very dedicated people who will spend hours on end reading and boosting the books we love, trying to write the perfect review and so on. We're really committed and do have our own kind of magic, I guess, ahah. You're so right, it is important to remember that and to see bloggers for what they are, not to use and abuse them either, but to respect them and their work and everything they do 🙂
Love this post! xx

Lovely post, Fanna! Such an important topic that you have raised here. I hope this post reaches to as many authors and they actually understand the value of reviewers. They should understand that what we do is actually hard and time-taking. Loved this!

Good post, Fanna 🙂 I have always felt appreciated as a reviewer, I guess I’ve just been lucky with the authors I review! But I know that is sorely not the case with most other reviewers. They’re either underappreciated, or just blatantly shunned for having an opinion at all, and that makes me sad. Hopefully, at least our communities help create a more positive environment to come back to, and maybe they know that at least they’re appreciated by the rest of the reviewers 🙂

I definitely agree that majority authors are considerate and in the little time I have been as a reviewer, I’ve only come across the good ones. And yes, our community is probably the best part of it all! Thank you, Evelina 😀

Fabulous! To date, I’ve formed some amazing friendships with authors and for the most part feel like my words and time in sharing promos and writing reviews has been respected and appreciated. I really enjoy these genuine interactions with authors – it’s why I started blogging in the first place.

So very true! I think you’re so right about people wanting just a simple “thanks” or even at the very least, to not be made to feel inconsequential or vilified. And most authors and such are awesome, of course. But yeah, this is definitely something people should remember! Great post 🙂

I know what you mean! As a book blogger, I review books that I like even if I didn’t get an ARC for it. For the most part, authors are amazing but there are a few who do behave badly and that is unfortunate.

This is a great little discussion! I agree that book bloggers and the community in general ought to be appreciated. I do understand the author as they feel they are giving away money that would normally go into their pocket… and well artistic people can be temperamental… but that is NO EXCUSE to be mean and take pot shots either! I got taken to task by an author once and while I didn’t take kindly to it I also still reviewed his book with a respect I wish he’d treated me ❤ Anyway delightful post!

Three cheers for book bloggers, everything that they do, and all the love and respect they deserve! So many of us put in so much time and effort to share the wonderful stories that are out there and how and why they are important and deserve to be relevant. The book community wouldn’t be the same without us all!

I love this post! We bloggers really give a lot of ourselves to this book blogging world and it’s for the love of books. I have to say, I let out a little giggle when I saw the part about contacting us AFTER they read our review policy. I swear, nobody reads mine, because they are always asking me to review SFF books, and I am a serious contemporary (romance) reader.

This was such a beautifully written and well thought out blog post! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it!

I for one, have definitely started to feel guilty about writing even the slightest negative comment in a review. Simply because I’m worried an author might attack me for it.

It’s such a shame that this has happened to the book blogging community, because like you said, it’s our personal time and takes a lot of effort and it’s not appreciated at all. I’m hoping this will change as we go further into the year!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, it makes me super happy! Yes, that little worry about being attacked is always at the back of my mind when I post a negative review though our community is super supportive and probably the best part about it all 😀 Thanks, again!